A £238m overhaul for the 2017/18 GP contract for England has been agreed by the Department of Health and the BMA, in a package that will see the unplanned admissions DES scrapped and funding to cover rising expenses and CQC fees.

From April 2017 an additional £157m will go into the global sum from the unplanned admissions DES, which is to be scrapped.

GPC chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: 'I am pleased to say we have reached an agreement which we believe offers important and significant improvements to the contract.

"The changes will provide some much needed stability and respite for GP practices by reducing bureaucracy and providing financial relief in key areas. Reimbursements for CQC fees and rising costs of indemnity will protect practice resources so that they can be concentrated on frontline care for patients.

"Guaranteed cover for reimbursement to the sickness and maternity leave system will help practices continue to provide GP appointments when staff are unwell. However, we should not pretend that these changes will solve the enormous challenges confronting general practice that have left many GP practices facing closure.

"Stagnating budgets, staff shortages and rising patient demand are combining to overwhelm services in many areas of the country."

2017/18 GP contract - England

From April 2017 an additional £157m will go into the global sum from the unplanned admissions DES, which is to be scrapped

An expenses and pay uplift has been agreed to deliver a 1% pay rise for GPs, as well as a £3.8m uplift to cover increased superannuation costs of NHS pension changes. An extra £58.9m will be invested to cover the cost of population growth

£2m extra to cover additional costs of medical records handling created by primary care support services

From October practices which close half a day during the week for training will be ineligible for funding under the extended hours DES

Practices that work together to provide more evening and weekend appointments will be eligible for additional non-contractual funding over and above the current scheme

Payments under the SFE for maternity leave reimbursement will not be subject to pro-rata application. Practices will therefore be reimbursed the lower of actual or invoiced costs up to the maximum amounts as set out in the SFE (£1734.18 per week)

Significant improved changes to sickness leave reimbursement. Eligibility will no longer be based on stringent list size and period of absence criteria. Instead, payments will commence after two weeks of sick leave absence.

The amount payable has also been uplifted to be in line with maternity payments, the lower of actual or invoiced costs up to the maximum amounts as set out in the SFE (£1734.18 per week). As with maternity reimbursement, payments will not be subject to pro-rating

Practices will be required to check new patients' eligibility for NHS care and identify those with non UK EHICs or S1 forms, supported by recurrent funding of £5m

Workforce census will become a contractual requirement with £1.5m added to core funding to cover the workload

No changes to QOF indicators. QOF point value to increase. A working group will immediately begin work on the future of QOF after April 2018

All practices will be required to allow collection of data for the national diabetes audit